


what's worse than a liar?

by syilca



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Because I want them to be happy, F/M, also gonna be a 2 parter now instead of a one shot LOL, pre-botw, this is gonna be hurt/comfort now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:48:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27733315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syilca/pseuds/syilca
Summary: (Takes place before the events of BOTW!)Link and Zelda are in that weird middle zone of "less than friends" and "more than acquaintances"--until he pulled out the Master Sword. Now they're back to square one, except worse.-A one-shot turned 2 parter! The second chapter will be based off the idea of them bonding over food.
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	what's worse than a liar?

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't played HWAOC yet so just letting you know before you read this!
> 
> I was thinking about a what-if scenario where Zelda didn't have any ill feelings toward Link (and were actually becoming friends) until he pulls the Master Sword! Like he kept it a secret from her that he actually pulled it out when he was younger, but he didn't take it and left it in the Lost Woods or something... so I wrote this one-shot today!!
> 
> Hope you enjoy it~ xoxo
> 
> edit;; this is gonna be 2 parts 'cause I want them to be happy :~)

Despite the warmth of the forest, Link shivered when he placed his hands on the handle of the Master Sword.

He didn’t want this. But right now, what he wanted didn't matter.

He tightened his grip before pulling it out—with relative ease. The fact that it was almost too easy sat uncomfortably within him. Link glared up at the Great Deku Tree—but he met his sharp gaze with an expression that Link could only see as pity. Ever since the day he stumbled into the Lost Woods when he was a kid years ago, he knew this very day would come. But even then, it didn’t change anything. It didn’t stop the feeling of dread when he had to step back into the forest for a second time. He feared it—because it was fate, because it was _his_ fate.

He had always feared the day when he would have to carry the weight of the sword on his back, with all eyes of Hyrule boring into him.

_“You will have to wield it one day, child. To protect the ones you love.”_

And today was the day.

“He’s the hero?” Zelda’s sharp voice was the first one to break the heavy silence that befell over the group. He braved a glance back at her, just a peek, but he wished he hadn’t.

Her once awed expression when they first arrived had crumbled away to reveal betrayal—to reveal disbelief and hurt. But most of all, it revealed shame. Zelda was never good at hiding her expressions, despite what she insisted. And as he stiffly looked back at the sword in his hand, he could already feel waves of wrath wafting from her, flying in all directions, as if she didn’t know where, or who, to direct her anger to.

“Indeed, dear Princess.” The leaves tremored with the Great Deku Tree’s voice, and it echoed around Link like an inescapable prison. “He is the Chosen Hero, to fight alongside you against Calamity Ganon. He has been hailed upon by Hylia.”

Link grit his teeth, his upper lip twitching at his words.

The sound of awe and congratulation from the other troops fell deaf to his ears as he stared down hard at the emblem of the triforce engraved on the flat of the sword.

He didn’t want this, and the Goddess couldn’t care less.

* * *

As the sun shed the last of its light upon Hyrule, the cold took no time to rattle Link’s bones as he retired to his tent. The Great Deku Tree had been kind enough to let them camp in the forest for the night, before they departed back to the castle.

But he lay awake, staring wide-eyed at the Master Sword he was holding loosely in his hand. As a dark shadow fell over his tent, he instinctively stiffened and tightened his grip, rising.

“Don’t come out.” Although her voice was muffled and quiet, he knew it was her. Zelda.

The outline of her body resembled that of a shadow, as it stood close by. She didn’t speak until he moved again, and the words fell out of her mouth painfully.

“Am I simply…” she started, her voice rough and coarse. “All those times I consulted—those times where—when… when I spoke to you, and you would just sit there silently and listen; did you not speak because you found my struggles entertaining?”

Guilt burst through him as he leaned forward. He immediately reached out to open the flap of the tent.

“ _Don’t_.”

His arm paused in mid-air. He could open it and face her, but what would he even say? There was no excuse, because he knew how she had felt about the entire thing—the prophecy, the lack of a response from her training, the pressure—and he had somehow unlocked something that she had spent her entire life on.

And he kept it from her.

"I don't think I can look at you right now, but I want to know something.”

The shadow against his tent shifted, and it seemed as though she had stepped closer. “I’m used to being berated, but you already know that,” she said with a humorless laugh. “I couldn't care less, because they’re strangers. But you and I? I thought we were—” she paused, and favored exhaling emptiness instead of finishing her sentence. “You knew. That you were chosen. The Great Deku Tree spoke to you as if you’ve been here before.”

Link’s outstretched hand closed into a tight fist as he placed it in his lap. With each passing second, the silence between them grew louder and louder.

“When you pulled it out, it sounded as if the sword sighed with relief, happy to have found its owner,” she said, her voice softening ever so slightly. “But… why didn’t you tell me? That you were the one?”

His eyes flit over to the Master Sword lying on the ground. It was spotless and clean. Perfect, without a single blemish.

He couldn’t say anything, because he didn’t know the answer.

She waited—but he knew that she was waiting for something that wasn’t going to happen. And it squeezed his chest tightly, knowing that he couldn’t answer her. He heard her let out a shaky breath, and her dark figure took a step back.

“It must’ve been delightful,” she said finally, her voice distant, “to know that you could fulfill your part of the prophecy all along, _Hero_.”

That wasn’t true.

“You may not be a liar,” she continued, her voice cracking, “but you’ve deceived me.”

Link pulled the flap of the tent open quickly, sloppily, but he wasn’t fast enough, and she was already halfway to the other side of the encampment. He stared on helplessly, as her figure became smaller and smaller, until the distance between them swallowed her up.

**Author's Note:**

> Oof :(( I always kind of imagined Link having trouble being vocal about how he's feeling/his thoughts, which is why I didn't make him talk in this. But it's okay 'cause it all turns out alright in the end (eventually right? haha)
> 
> It's Thanksgiving over here in the states, and I just wanted to say I'm glad to anyone who's been reading my fics! Every comment and kudos makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside ahhh!! Anyway, I hope you have a lovely week!!


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